Interim chamber chief makes strides in leadership

‘Interim president’ is usually code for being a placeholder, but over the past five months Brent Cooper has worked to strengthen the Northern Kentucky Chamber and move it forward.

During Brent Cooper’s tenure as interim president of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, he’s been unafraid to move ahead on big, hot-button issues and bring new energy to the organization.(Photo: The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy)

Story Highlights

Brent Cooper wasn’t just a placeholder as interim president of the NKY Chamber

He helped advance the Brent Spence Bridge project, repaired the Chamber’s relationships in the community, and helped raise the organization’s profile

Cooper will leave a stronger organization for Trey Grayson, who begins July 1 as president and CEO

Being interim president of an organization usually means being a placeholder: just keeping the train on tracks until the permanent leader arrives, and not doing anything new or controversial in the meantime.

Not so for Brent Cooper.

During five months as interim president of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, he’s been unafraid to move ahead on big, hot-button issues like the Brent Spence Bridge replacement.

He mended strained relations with members and community leaders. And he brought a small business owner’s mindset to the chamber’s 22-person staff, empowering them to be creative and try new things.

“He didn’t just come in as a placeholder; he came in as if this was his job forever and just gave 100 percent of himself to that position. And he really hit a home run for us,” said Debbie Simpson, chairwoman of the board of directors.

Cooper says he was guided by a simple philosophy: “We wanted to show people that we were strong.”

When he departs at the end of the month, he will leave a much stronger organization for new president and CEO Trey Grayson. With 1,600 members and hundreds of volunteers, the chamber is Northern Kentucky’s largest and most influential business organization. It advocates for the region’s needs in Washington, D.C., and Frankfort and leads a variety of initiatives to improve the community and strengthen businesses.

Cooper is a longtime chamber volunteer who chaired the board of directors in 2011 and 2012, and his deep knowledge of the organization made him the natural choice to guide it after longtime president Steve Stevens departed in February. Immediately, Cooper was plunged into the thick of the debate over whether tolls should be used for the $2.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge replacement, the region’s top transportation and economic development problem.

But Cooper, who owns C-Forward Information Technologies in Covington and sends employees over the bridge every day, has been involved in that debate for years. In February, he convinced the Northern Kentucky CEO Roundtable to become the first group in the region to endorse tolls publicly as the only way to pay for construction. Getting executives at companies like Toyota and Citi to take such a risky stand was a major coup, and it lent credibility and behind-the-scenes muscle to the project.

Closer to home, Cooper also sought out meetings with the Kenton County Mayors Group and other toll opponents to try and talk out their differences.

Cooper spent a considerable amount of time out in the community, visiting with chamber members large and small and repairing relationships there as well.

Within the chamber’s 22-person staff, Cooper brought some new energy to an organization badly in need of it. He pushed chamber staff to think on a wider, more creative scale, and he encouraged wider use of technology and social media.

“This guy didn’t just come in to keep things together. He came in and made it better. And that, to me, was such a wonderful, wonderful surprise,” Simpson said.

Cooper’s last day at the chamber is June 30. Come July 1, he’s looking forward to a less hectic schedule: “I’m going to play golf every day in July – that’s my goal.” ⬛